Needle-threader for sewing-machines.



F. KLINE.` NEIEDLEV THREADEH FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.5. ISI?- Patented July 31, 1917.

UNrrjED sTATEs PATENT onirica.

FRANCIS KLIN E, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANKBURKIVIAN OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. v

NEEDLE-THREADER' Fon SEWING-MACHINES.

kSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1917.

Application lled April 5, 1917. Serial No. 159,84'5'.

To all whom t may concern.' f

Be it known that I, FRANCIS KLINE, a subject of the King of Great Britain; and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Needle- Threaders for Sewing-Machines, ofrwhich the followingy is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements.

in a needle threading attachment for sewing machines, and it consists 'in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel ar'- rangement and operation ofY the various .parts thereof, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specically claimed.

, The principal object of the invention is toV provide a device which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction and which can be attached to any kindof a sewing machine in such a manner thaty when it is desired to thread the needle thereof, the attachment can be turned down'or to such a positionas to bring the needle guide members in aline- ,ment with the eye ofthe needle, to the end vention, will be disclosed in the subjoined description and explanation,

In the accompanying drawing which serves to illustrate an embodiment of the v invention,

Figure 1, 1s a view looking from the operators side of a sewing machine, showing a portion of the head of the machine, a part of the bed or throat'plateand'illustrating by full lines, the attachment secured to the presserfoot-bar and in position with respect toA the needle for 'guiding ai thread through the eye thereof, and by dotted lines about the Iposition theattachment will occupy when not in use for threading.

Fig. 2, is an Vend viewshowing a part 'of the head of the sewing machine with the attachment mounted on the presser-foot-b'ar f v and the parts in position ready for guiding the thread through the eye of the needle.

Fig. 3,- is a crosssectional View taken on line SW3' of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.- l

Fig. 4, ,is a vertical sectional view taken i The reference numeral 10 designates a Vportion of the head of a sewing machine,

or that part thereof which carries the needle bar 11 and presser-foot-bar 12, which are mounted on said head for vertical movement in the usual or any well-known way. y 'A Vneedle 13 is secured vertically in the lower end of the needle bar 11 by means of a set` Vneedle which is fitted in a socket in. the ylower end of the needle bar as usual.. The

needle is provided near itslower end ywith an eye -or opening for the thread andsaid opening is disposed longitudinally with respect to the machine. The holder or carrier for the attachment consists of a block 16V which has 4pivotally mounted thereon vat one .of its'ends a pair of spaced apart clamping.

jaws 17 which are adapted to embrace the Apresser-foot-bar 12 at a suitable distance above the presser-footlS whichis mounted on the lower end of saidcbar. VThe jaws or members 17 are connected together by means,

' of a screw bolt and a wing nut 20 on one end Vof said vbolt so that' by turning the nut in the proper direction the members 17 d will be caused to clamp the bar 12 on which they' are mounted.l The block or carrier 16 isprovided near its outer end, or that end opreduced portion 25,which extends through of a lrotatable member 26 which lextends horizontally from the carrier 16 'on one side thereof kand near the needle bar; but to the 'opening 21 is internally screw-threaded to engage a screw plug 28 which is adapted to rest against the adjacentend of a rod 24 l'which is provided at its other end with a lthe reducedportion 22 of thev opening 21 I and linto. an opening 25a'located in one -end left thereof as shown. A screw 27 seated in the member 26 is employed tol engage the reduced portion 25 of the rod 24 and to fix the member 26 on said portion. Surrounding the rod 24 is a spiral spring 28 which has one of its endssecured to the carrier 16 and its other end to the rod 24 and this spri-ng is used to rotate said rod and the member 26 when the latter is unlocked from the holder 16 as will be presently explained. The member 26 is provided centrallyl and longitudinally thereof with an opening 29 which has its ou'ter end screw-threaded to engage a screw plug 30 the inner end of which rests against a coiled spring 31 contacting `with a plunger or locking-bolt 32 which is extended at its end adjacent to the carrier 16 into a recess 33 in the side of said carrier, where said bolt will be held by reason of the tension of the sprnov 31 until it is released by the mo-vement o an 'arm 34 on a bell-crank-lever 35 which is vfulcrumed lto and carried by a depending extension 36 on the member 26 adjacent to the carrier 16. The arm 34 constitutes one of the arms of the lever 35, and extends upwardly into an enlargement 37 of the opening 29 in the memberv 26 and is adapted to engage the plunger or locking bolt32 so as to retract the same and withdraw its inner end from the recess 33 in the carrier 16 and thus unlock or release the member 26 from the carrier so that it may be automatically rotated or turned in order to raise the parts of the attachment to about the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, or so as to be out of the way'of the operation of the machine. f The other arm 38 of the bell-crank-lever 35 is longitudi- -nally slotted and extends longitudinally under and with respect to the member 26,

vwhich member has extended downwardly therefrom between the arm 38 and the needle lbar 1'1 a pair o'f spaced apart resilient rods 39 each of which has adjustably mounted on its lower end` a thread and needle guiding member 40' which projects into the path of fthe needle 13 as is clearly shown in'Fig. 1 of the drawing, and each has an extension 41 to embrace the point of the needle just below the eye'therein. Each of the members 40l is provided Von its inner surface with a 'semi-circular recess 42 which recesses are tapered toward the ends of the members 40 adjacent to the needle 13 vand form when said members are in juxta-position a iiared or funnel shaped guide leading at its contracted end to the eye of the needle. 4The members 40 can be adjusted on the rods 39 by means of setscrews 43 whicheach of them carries and which are adapted to engage said rods. Just above the members 40 each of the rods 39 is provided with an enlargevment 44 each ,ofwhich has in its upper portion and inner surface 'a downwardly beveled recess 45 to receive the tapered or wedge shaped portion 46 on the lower end of a sliding bar 47 which is mounted between the rods 39 and has at its upper portion a laterally projecting pin 48 which engages the slot in the longer arm 38 of the bell-cranklever 35. This sliding bar 47 is provided with a bayonet slot 49 in which is located a tripping lever 50 which is fulcrumed on the lower end of a projection 51 depending from the member 26 on the opposite side of the lever 35 from that on which the needle bar is located. The free portion of the lever 50` is vertically slotted to receive the vneedle 13 below the collar 15 on the needle bar 11, and is so located that when lthe needle is in such position that the eye of theneedle carried thereby willV communicate with the smaller end of the guide opening for the thread formed by the tapered vrecesses 42, said collar will rest lightly' on the tripping lever 50. When thus positioned a thread may be inserted inthe end of the opening formed by the recesses 42 in the guide members 40 and will be guided thereby to and through the eye of the needle, when by a slight downward `movement o'f the needle bar the collar 15 thereon will depress the lever 50 thus forcing the sliding bar 47 downwardly into the beveled recesses, 45 of the members 44,` thus causing said members to vbe separated and at the same time the guide members 40, thus permitting the thread to be released from the last named members. In the foregoing' operation, as the bar 47 is moved downwardly the pin 48 which it carries will depress the longer arm 38 of the lever 35, in which action the arm 34 will force Vthe locking bolt 32 outwardly and thus `release the `member' 26 from the carrier 16, so that the tension of the spring 28 on the rod 24will cause the member 26 to turn to aboutthe position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In Fig. 5` of the drawing, is shown a modification in the means for securing the attachment to a sewing machine and which consists in dispensing with the clamping jaws 17, screw 19 and nut2'0'and extending a bracket 52 upwardly from the outer portion of the carrier vblock 16, which bracket is provided with openings 53 to be used for securing it to the face of the machine-head.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as' new and desire to secure 'by Letters Patent is;-d

1. In a needle threader for sewing machines, the combination with a carrier-memberhaving means to secure it to apart of 'the machine near the needle-bar thereof, of

Aber to near the point of the machine needle,

thread guidingjaws 'mounted'. on the said depending means and having a guide-way `to communicate with the eye of the needle,

and means actuated by the downward move.- ment of the needle-bar to separate said jaws.

2. In a needle threader for sewing machines, the combination with a carrier-mem ber having means to secure it to a part of the machine near the needle-bar thereof, of a spring-actuated rotatable member extended from one side of the carrier-member, means depending from the rotatable member to near the point of the machine needle, thread guiding jaws mounted on the said depending means and having a guide-way to communicate with the eye of the needle, and means actuated by the downward movement of the needle-bar to separate said jaws to releasethe thread and to unlock the rotatable member from the carrier-member so as to permit rotation of the rotatable member.

3. In a needle threader 'for sewing machines, the combination with a carrier-mem ber having means to adjustably secure it to the presser-oot-bar of the machine, of a spring-actuated rotatable member extended.

of the machine needle, a thread guiding jaw mounted on the lower portion of each of said bars or `rods each having on its inner surface a correspondingly tapered guideway communicating with the eye of the needle, a member fixed on each of said bars above said jaws and having iny their adjacent upper portions downwardly inclined recesses, a bar mounted for vertical movement between said bars and having its lower portion tapered to enter said recesses, a lever supported by the rotatable member and extended through an opening in said slidable bar and extended into the path of the needle bar, a pin on the upper portion of the slidable bar, a bell-crank-lever fulcrumed on the rotatable member and having one of its arms in loose engagement with the pin and its other arm extended into an opening yin the rotatable member and a spring-actuated locking bolt mounted on the rotatable mem- FRANCIS KLINE.

Witnesses:

CHAs. C. TILLMAN, S. IUZICK.A

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

